The Lord has placed my team and I in a small village in the Kandal province of the Kingdom of Cambodia! We are serving alongside a YWAM family who the Lord is using to be a light unto this whole area. We live with Umong and Nary (who are 8 months pregnant with their very first child!!), Nary’s 3 sisters, and her mom and dad (who is the pastor of the church here). They are such sweet people, and their consideration for us and hospitality never ceases to amaze me. God is using their family in great ways here in Cambodia and it’s such a blessing to be able to partner with them, serve them in any way we can, and be a blessing and encouragement to all of the other believers here. It’s been so great to take over for Umong and Nary in teaching the village kids English and entertaining them daily. You can tell how much they truly appreciate the extra time that it gives them to either take a much needed rest, run errands, or work on sewing the irrigation tubes that their family sells for income. Here is what our daily looks like Monday through Friday.
Every morning, I'm awakened at 5:30am to the sound of roosters calling out their daily wake up call. Before opening my eyes, I start each day by thanking the Lord for the incredible blessing it is to be here and also asking Him to help me see and take advantage of every opportunity to serve him and those around me that day!
After I’m up and prepared to start the new and exciting day, from 6:00-7:00am a partner and I head out for our morning run to enjoy the crisp, cool air of the morning. My favorite part are all of the warm little greetings we receive from the local kids. Some will be cheerful little “hello!” ‘s that come from hiding little cuties inside the their homes, and others will run out to meet us and shine their bright smiles our way. That alone makes it well worth getting up at the crack of dawn to work out everyday; it is such a sweet gift and reward 🙂
Next comes shower time! It’s so refreshing when the cool water splashes over you after a good exercise. In the bathroom, there is a basin filled with rain water for “showering”. Surprisingly, the method that they have perfected here is actually quite efficient and effective! With just 4-5 scoops (1-2 for the locals ;P) you can be all washed and ready to go. It makes me realize how much water I waste at home with western showers! Same goes for the squatty potties (which is basically just a ceramic hole in the ground)! What used to be a source of intimidation and dread is now my preferred bathroom set up! Since being in the city with western toilets, I find myself actually missing our squatty potty back at the villlage, who would have thought! 😛
From 7:30-8:00 it’s breakfast time! Typically we will feast on rice (a welcome accompaniment to every meal here in Asia,) ramen, an egg, and slice of bread. It always tastes so good!
From 8:00-9:00 is free time, which is usually a special slot to spend quality time with Jesus. <3 It’s a super awesome blessing to be able to lie back in my hammock and relaxingly sway back and forth while soaking up what God has for me in His word that day!
At 9:00-10:00 it’s morning English class time with the village kiddos!! The five members of my team and I rotate teaching, which works out perfectly since we have class Monday-Friday. Every class we begin with the song Jesus Loves Me, which the kids are CRAZY about! (They usually will even be begging throughout the day for us to sing that song with them over and over. It’s so cool that they want to sing about Jesus’ love!!!) Next, we share a verse with them, that Nary or Umong will translate into Khmer! We then will start our lesson and everyday we will have a topic that we focus on for the day. So far we’ve covered shapes & colors, emotions, verbs, animals, fruits & vegetables and more! And of course we end each lesson with a game to keep them engaged and to also keep things fun and exciting! But it is always so incredible to me to see how eager these kids are to learn! If it were up to them, they would have class 8 hours a day, every day of the week. They’re minds are like little sponges ready to soak up every little bit of knowledge presented to them, which makes teaching them super easy and fun!
—Stay Tuned for part 2!!—-
